The Gift Of Ignorance
by NubTheMadhatter
Summary: a normal boy travels around the hoenn region, collecting and training his pokemon. based on the game Pokemon ruby version.
1. Chapter 1

**The Gift Of Ignorance**

**Chapter 1**

Atsukai Nikuk stumbled into the tall grass, his breath appearing before him in the cold evening air.

"Something's gotta be out here somewhere." He mumbled, trying to catch his breath. "A tallow or _something._ I'd even be happy with a zigzagoon." The woods did seem a bit barren on that night, probably because it was so cold. "I guess that's what I get for waiting until dusk to catch my first pokemon." The boy said with a sigh, straightening his headband angrily. What could he say? He hated crowds and the woods would've been extremely crowded earlier. Today had been the day he had been waiting for for months. It was the day that all of the new trainers-to-be would be setting off for a journey around Honenn.

At this point, Atsukai had been running around the woods for hours, searching for a weak pokemon to start with. His clothing was disheveled, his wild black hair was frizzy and bobbing lazily in front of his blue headband, and his cheeks were flushed and pink. He was beginning to consider going back home to his mother and waiting until next year to begin, but he wasn't going to let that happen again. He had to start today. He couldn't wait until he was twelve.

"Hey, do you have a pokemon?" he heard a voice say from behind him. He spun around. A younger girl was standing proudly in the tall grass, frowning, with her arms crossed. "Cuz if you do, I wanna up my pokemon's level. How bout' it?"

Atsukai sighed. "No. I mean, not yet." He said, pouting a bit and leaning against a tree. " I'm waiting for… for a really strong one." He looked away, trying to conceal the fact that he was lying. The weakest pokemon in the world could do it for him right now.

"Yeah, whatever." The girl said with a roll of her eyes. "It'd probably be best if you'd get out of this tall grass if you really don't have any. The meaner ones come out at night." She turned and walked into the shadows of the trees. "See ya."

Atsukai watched her walk away until he lost sight of her, a displeased expression on his face. _It's hard to look cool without a single pokemon. _He thought, sighing as soon as she walked out of sight. He started walking through the tall grass, heading in the direction of the next town. He actually wanted his first pokemon to be a torchick, though he knew that it would be nearly impossible to get one now. They were usually bred in the forest that he was walking through at the time, and the kids who had started earlier had probably gotten all of the tough ones. There were probably no treeko or mudkip left either.

It was late by the time he had made it to the next town, and Atsukai had no place to sleep. The town was small and had no motels for him to go to, so he wandered aimlessly until he found a small alley between two buildings.

"Perfect," he said aloud to himself. "I finally get the chance to be a hobo." He cringed and walked to the back of the alley, sitting down in the light flowing through one of the windows on the building to the left of him. He shook his head in disbelief. _And to think that I thought that this would be a great day. _He took his backpack off and flung it to the ground in frustration. He laid down and used his backpack as a pillow. Atsukai fell into a restless sleep in a matter of seconds.

He awoke swatting at something that was pressed against his cheek. When he actually opened his eyes he was looking into the eyes of a big pokemon that was sitting in a doglike manner on his stomach. It blinked in confusion for a few seconds before going back to licking his face with a tiny catlike tongue. It took the frazzled boy a few seconds to register just what the strange creature was.

"Absol… I found an absol!" he whispered, smiling weakly. The absol smiled back with it's eyes, gently standing up and getting off of Atsukai's stomach. He sat up, keeping his eyes on the absol, and held out a shaking hand for the creature to sniff. The absol tilted its head to the side in confusion, and then pushed his hand to the top of its head with its nose. "You want me to pet you?" he asked, running his hand down the creature's back.

Then he remembered the poke' balls that he had stored in his backpack. The absol was friendly, but would it allow its self to be caught? He cautiously unzipped his backpack and grabbed one, pulling it out and setting it next to him on the pavement. The absol sat motionless. Atsukai slowly zipped his backpack back up and picked up the poke'ball. The absol remained silent and still. Without hesitation, Atsukai shut his eyes tight and tossed the ball in the direction of the absol. He heard a slight rattling of the poke'ball against the pavement, and then the signature beep that signals the closing of the ball. He opened his eyes slowly.

"YESSSS!" he shouted as loudly as possible, hugging the poke'ball to his chest. "My first pokemon!" he ran out into the now busy and bright streets, practically flying to the pokemon center.

He rushed through the doors and ran to the front desk, holding the poke'ball in his hands straight in front of him. A young woman with stood behind the desk, smiling brightly.

"welcome to the pokemon center! Would you like me to heal your pokemon?" the woman asked Atsukai with a smile and a small bow. "It's free, so you can just give me your pokemon for a few seconds and be on your way."

"yes, please." Atsukai said, smiling. He was in a good mood today. He handed the ball to the woman and she walked to a large machine near the front desk and placed it inside. It did a number of beeps and a few big flashing lights blinked before she removed it and handed it back to him.

"your pokemon should be as good as new," the woman said, bowing again. "Hope to see you again soon!"

Author's notie thingies

This is what I get like when I play too much pokemon ruby. That's what this story is based on, not the TV show. Yes, I am a pokemon dork.

P.S. the main character's name, Atsukai Nikuk, means "hard to get along with".


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Atsukai trudged down the long dirt path that leads to the next town. The cool air blew past his cheeks and his bare arms. Atsukai had now started to reconsider his choice of clothing. He was wearing a skintight biking shirt underneath his sleeveless grey and burgundy turtleneck vest. He was also wearing a pair of baggy black shorts and some scruffy old black buckle-up boots. His arms and legs felt freezing. _What I do for the sake of looking tough…_ he thought, sighing hopelessly.

"Hey, you, Emo kid! Wait up!" he heard someone call, along with the beat of running feet. He didn't turn around. If there was one thing that he hated it was being called Emo. The person ran up next to him, panting like a dog, and slowed to a walk. "Are you a trainer?" the person asked, grinning widely.

Atsukai looked the person over, making sure to keep an un-caring expression on his face. The person was a boy who looked maybe a year or two older than him, with dark skin and shoulder-length blonde hair braided into hundreds of bouncy little braids. He was only an inch or two taller than Atsukai and was incredibly skinny. He wore a blue sweatshirt that had sleeves that ended at his elbows and dark blue pants that over lapped two sneakers at the bottoms.

"Well…" Atsukai said blankly, finally looking into the boy's bright blue eyes. "Who are _you _supposed to be?" The boy frowned disapprovingly, almost brokenheartedly, and then spat a reply.

"You're not a trainer, then, I suppose?" he said politely before turning and starting to walk away. Atsukai grabbed his shoulder.

"Yes, yes I am a trainer." He said distastefully, rolling his eyes. He could see the boy smirking plainly. "What of it?"

"I challenge you to a battle!" the boy yelled, as if Atsukai was going to run off at any second. "You can't turn down my challenge!"

Atsukai, while being able to keep his bad-boy appearance, was overcome with joy. His first battle. This is what he'd been waiting for. "Sure." He said, hardly resisting the urge to smile. He threw his poke' ball to the ground, releasing his absol, Luffy. "Luffy! Go get em'!" he shouted.

"Wow! An absol! Those are rare, you know!" the boy exclaimed, clapping his hands. "Smart and strong too!" he pulled a poke' ball out of his pocket and tossed it to the ground as well. "Go, Reffo!" a strange fish appeared before the boy, seeming to float in midair, almost. "Like my relicanth? Reffo's my buddy, right boy?" the relicanth made a weird squeaking noise that seemed to mean "sure am!".

"I'll go first," Atsukai said concentrating on Luffy's four moves. "Luffy! Um… use… use thunderbolt!" Luffy looked at him for a second before shooting a bolt of electricity at Reffo.

"Reffo, dodge it, quick!" The boy yelled, a satisfied look on his face. The fish swam to the side, avoiding the electricity easily. "Now use earthquake!" the fish sent a powerful force hurling at the ground causing it to shake madly. Luffy was hit directly by the force, stumbling over and collapsing to the ground. The boy waited for a few seconds before calling back his relicanth and grinning toothily at Atsukai. "I think that I've won."

Atsukai collapsed to his knees beside Luffy. "Luffy…" he breathed, bringing the pokemon's head to rest on his arms. "C'mon Luffy. Stand up." Atsukai himself couldn't believe that he was close to tears. It was just a pokemon.

"He's just fainted." The blonde boy said. "If you take him to the pokemon center he'll be right as rain." Atsukai glanced up at the boy, who was now standing next to him.

"Oh," Atsukai said embarrassedly, his face beet red. He returned Luffy to his poke' ball.

"My name's Sho Amai." The boy said, helping Atsukai to his feet. "I just defeated the gym leader in that last town. It's really fun to battle, actually. It was hard for me on my first try, too."

"How did you know that it was my first time?"

"Okay, not to burst your bubble or anything, but you know absolutely nothing about pokemon. Even someone who has just battled once knows more than you do."

Atsukai frowned. He didn't do that badly, did he?

"Let's get your Luffy to the pokemon center." Sho said sheepishly, changing the subject. "He's actually a great pokemon, you know. He just needs training."

Author's notes

My new character Sho Amai's name means "little sweet". Just throwing that out there. Damn, all my character's personalities are flipping out .

Oh yeah, while I remember this I should say it (write it) this turned out to be more of a comic layout than a story. Sorry bout that. That's why I'll never be a writer, just a manga artist ; I make all the readers suffer that way.


End file.
